NRT "Addiction"

Nicotine Replacement Therapy , or "NRT", is alleged to be useful for smokers who wish to quit smoking but who are unable to tolerate the discomfort of nicotine withdrawal. It is also used as a way of delivering nicotine without the harmful effects of smoke. Gum and patches certainly supply the nicotine that a smoker needs, but without the rapid "hit" obtained when nicotine laiden smoke is drawn quickly into the lungs and then into the blood stream.

Many of my clients who have gone on to succeed quitting smoking with hypnotherapy report during their initial consultation that they have used NRT and almost unanimously report that, for them, it simply replaced the nicotine delivery method and they still found that they were stuck on their gum or patch. As to whether they became comparably as as dependent as with smoking is not known. This is certainly the impression they have. A few people find themselves using patches or gum as well as smoke!

Of course, NRT manufacturers are careful to state that you still need "will power" to stop when using their product and I am sure this is true. Sadly, people may become approximately as dependent on NRT as any other method of acquiring nicotine. This is certainly possible, given the constituents of patches and gums.

Hypnotherapy, when used in combination with other methods here, can be a powerful approach to releasing NRT "addiction".